Global Intifada

With the turn of every day, more Media reports come in that portray either Islam or Muslims in a negative light. The Danish cartoons, the Afghan apostate, the war on Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, the Pope’s comments, and the Niqabi incident in England clearly establish a rising trend. Let us not make the mistake of assuming that these events are nothing more than a series of coincidences. The actors involved have been the traditional proponents of Islamophobia. They include Evangelical Christians, propagators of the Pathos of Scientism, Corporations who have a wide variety of economic interest in Muslim lands, and right-wing Imperialists hiding behind the guise of “Defenders of Freedom”, whatever that means.

Given the historical and systematic hatred that these actors espouse against Islam, a systematic intellectual response is required of patient Muslims. What is needed is a group of dedicated believers who will volunteer to serve “in the intellectual trenches” and confront the hatred and vitriol that is being directed against our faith and our fellow Muslims. We can no longer hide in our communities and expect the world to leave us alone. We need to embrace public life and find rational responses within the bounds of the Shari’ah to these sorts of people.

Now is the time for us to rally one another and become masters of our destiny. If we don’t define the discourse on Islam, then others will will be more than happy to do it for us. This is the challenge of our generation. We can be cowards and choose to ignore these problems or we can do our people and posterity a valuable benefit by organizing ourselves and responding to these Islamophobes whenever and where ever such situations arise.

In particular, I would suggest that we focus on deconstructing the myths, stereotypes, and faulty logic that these ignoramuses advocate.

All Islamophobic arguments can be essentially reduced to the following core premises:
1. Islam is inherently evil, irrational, and violent
2. Islamic extremists are not a fringe element within the Muslim Ummah, but are the majority
3. The majority of Muslims are a fifth column within the Western society
4. Western civilization is threatened by Islam
5. Islamic and Western civilization are incompatible

Share This